remember a songwriter who inspired generations of singers. From bob Dylan, to Bruce Springsteen. Pete Seeger, his words, his banjo. Urging Americans to take up a hammer for civil rights and for justice. ABC's John donvan, now, on the man who put music to America's conscious. Reporter: Watch what Pete Seeger did here two years ago. Where just for a moment, he stopped singing. Knowing, the words would get sung by everybody else. For the better part of a century, that was one of his goals, whether singing other people's compositions, like Dylan's "A hard rain's a-gonna fall." &#9834; Did you see my blue-eyed son what did you see, my darling &#9834; &#9834; young one &#9834; &#9834; if I had a hammer &#9834; Reporter: Or his own, like "If I had a hammer," which peter, Paul and Mary made famous. &#9834; I got a hammer and I got a bell &#9834; &#9834; to everything &#9834; Reporter: Or "Turn, turn, turn," a huge hit for the byrds. &#9834; A time for love &#9834; Reporter: The goal was to get everybody else up and singing. So, it was a natural, that he delivered to the civil rights movement, a song he collected from the labor movement and reworked, "We shall overcome." &#9834; We shall overcome &#9834; Reporter: He saw music as a way to motivate social change. By ripe old age, he had achieved full-on icon status. A hero to Springsteen, who brought him on to inaugurate a president. That was five years ago. And still, he song, until he stopped. Once again, mid-chorus, but for good. Though the words, of course, will still get sung by everybody else. John donvan, ABC news, Washington.

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